The intermediate care building would have 24 beds and would look after people ready to be discharged, but not well enough to go home.

It would be staffed by both hospital and social care workers as part of the region’s bid to join up health and social care.

Patients would generally stay for around two weeks while they are rehabilitated, with the 24 bedrooms split up into three clusters.

It would also include a physiotherapy treatment room and a ‘mock’ apartment so patients can be assessed to see whether they are ready to live independently.

There would also be a sunken communal garden.

Plans submitted for the unit – which would be built to the north of the existing hospital on its temporary car park – say it will be put as far away as possible from residents on Delauneys Road in order to minimise the impact on their views.

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North Manchester General Hospital

Its architects say staff wanted the building to be unintimidating and small in scale, in order to feel comfortable and welcoming to patients. At its highest, it would be three storeys, with the building split over two levels.

Health and council bosses hope the new unit will help the widespread problem of bed blocking, caused by often elderly patients having to stay in hospital because they have nowhere suitable to go.

Much of that has been caused by squeezes on council social care funding, as well as NHS pressures.

Last winter in particular saw hospitals across Greater Manchester struggling to cope. At one point, around 900 beds a week were being blocked by people well enough to be discharged.

It remains unclear how much the new unit is going to cost, however, or where the funding is going to come from.

Pennine Acute NHS Trust and Manchester council, both of which are involved in the proposals, declined to provide any information beyond what has been provided to planning officials.

The news comes after a week of bad headlines for the hospital, which is considering moving a huge chunk of its surgery to Oldham.

Both that and the intermediate care centre are part of a wider review of Pennine’s services across four hospitals, the details of which have not yet been disclosed in full.